


After the Battle

by QueenPeen



Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses Shorts [3]
Category: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series - Sarah J. Maas, MAAS Sarah J. - Works
Genre: A Court of Thorns and Roses - Freeform, Feels, If you don't like it you don't have to read it, Other, Redemption, Sad, Tamlin - Freeform, Tamlin Redemption, a court of mist and fury, a court of wings and ruin - Freeform, un popular opininon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-07
Updated: 2017-05-07
Packaged: 2018-10-28 22:04:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10840377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenPeen/pseuds/QueenPeen
Summary: Tamlin has some thoughts on the events of ACOMAF AND ACOWAR.





	After the Battle

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea why I wrote this, just supposed it was something I needed to get out. I am fed up of seeing nothing but Tamlin hate in the fandom. I have studied psychology for years, and people are very rarely born bad. 
> 
> This comes from my feelings that Tamlin can change, and just because he has been an ass does not mean he has to forfeit every chance he might get of happiness. 
> 
> I didn't post this here only to get more hate from people. I understand that some of you have difficulty understanding both sides. I write this purely as a way of getting some things off my chest. 
> 
> Abuse begets abuse, Tamlin is the way he is because of how he was raised... an abusive father... Amarantha... By the end of ACOWAR he is changing. And I sincerely hope his complex character is explored more in the coming books.
> 
> I am not trying to exonerate him, and he does not deserve Feyre. But he can change... and he does deserve to be happy.

It wasn't supposed to be this way, the prophecy... the curse. She had broken it. Shouldn't he have been entitled to that fabled happy ending? It had always danced just out of his reach. Something he had to watch others around him achieve. But then she had come, wandered through the wall and promised and end to not just his suffering, but that of his people too. She had been a beacon of such light he should have guessed he would never have been worthy of her.

Tamlin knocked back the last of the liquor in his glass, staring at the last painting she had done before she had left him a second time. For Rhysand. He had thought about shredding every painting she had left behind. But then he would just be the monster she believed him to be.

She could have left him for any Fae in the lands, but it had to be Rhysand. Tamlin's whole life came down to losing to Rhysand... being humiliated, being forced to kneel. It only seemed fitting really, to lose her to him.

His court lay in tatters, any friends and alliances had withered like gardens now did around his home. An empty home. Tamlin only had himself to blame, he had come so close to having it all. But instead of letting her grow he had stifled her, she had wilted under his care. He could see that now, he could see everything clearly now.

Tamlin's eyes darted to the dusty violin case in the corner, memories of playing for her while she danced, danced for him... memories of watching her dance for Rhysand under the mountain. It all came back to Rhysand...

The better man when it had come down to it.

When it had mattered.


End file.
